Tibetan Dawn

Tibetan Dawn is a small family run business nestling in the South Wales valleys, just outside Newport. It was formed in February 2005 to promote Tibetan artists, Tibetan culture and handicrafts in the UK. Tibetan Dawn is run by husband and wife team Meryl and Lobsang Tsering.

Also available on the road!

We also have a handicraft stall which we run at venues throughout the year. Our little Tibetan Shop has been warmly welcomed at festivals in England and Wales. We hope to continue our newfound success over the coming year with our webshop and newly formed sister company, Yak in the Attic.

Our stock

We carry stock of both Tibetan and Indian crafted goods. Tibetan refugees living and working in India have made many of our items. We have been busy touring India carefully choosing our goods. Some are handmade purchased directly from producers of small workshops, while others items have been purchased via wholesale or factory manufacturers. We have always paid a fair price for our collection.

Our biggest challenge was to place an order for our own brand of “Tibetan Dawn” T-shirts depicting Tibetan art. Lobsang jetted off to India in search of a factory, which could make and print clothing to export quality. He spent two months searching and negotiating the contract with an Indian factory, also making sure that there was no child labour and reasonable working conditions within the enterprise.

Artists

We have collaborated with two artists and commissioned both original paintings to sell on behalf of the artists and artwork designs for printing on our own brand of T-shirts. It’s been a huge step and commitment for us.

The artist’s do not have luxury studios to work within where they can create their works of art. There are no easels, lights and comfy chairs, just artists sitting on the floor using canvases stretched on makeshift frames. The first Tibetan artists that we are promoting are Rigzin Namgyal and Chimetashi.

Rigzin Namgyal has had a love of art since a child. In April 1995 he became a student Thangka artist under his teacher Gyen Ngawangla. Every afternoon he would paint under his supervision at Mindroling Monastery.

He has continued his career in painting and is now a master Thangka painter. He runs his own studio workshop working with four junior artists and currently has five students. Rigzin has an excellent reputation for the quality of his artwork and has had commissions for Thangka’s worldwide, including the USA, Mexico, UK and Taiwan.

Chimetashi is a young Tibetan artist living in India. In 1983 he was born into a Buddhist family of refugees, who were based in a Tibetan settlement in Southern India. He is one of five children and has two brothers and two sisters. Chimetashi discovered his love of art whilst attending the Tibetan SOS School. His teacher encouraged him to continue his painting in a school in Mussoorie. Chimetashi is now living and working in his home village.

You can now find us on AMAZON

This year we have branched out and we now we are selling on the Amazon’s UK site. You can find us in the home furnishing department. Unfortunately we aren’t able to sell clothing and apparel at the moment due to Amazons demand for bar coding, which our handicrafts simply don’t have!

Things are a little more expensive on there, this is due to the charging structure set by Amazon verses the one set by PayPal that we use on our own website.

See us in 2010

We are looking forward trading again at Festivals and Markets. You will find our handicraft stall at the following venues this year.

5th April Easter @ Tredegar House, website.

8th-9th May Cardiff Natural Health show, website.

27-28th November (TBC) Green Fayre, website.

11, 12, 16, 17, 18, & 19th December Christmas @ Tredegar House, website

Sadly we have had to cut back this year on the number and size of events that we are attending with our little Tibet shop, this is due to the expense and adverse weather conditions of previous years that has made doing outside events uneconomical.

However, if you would like us to consider your event, please contact us with details.

Check out our blog page by clicking here